Genesis 26:17

17 So Isaac moved away to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled down.

Genesis 26:17 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 26:17

And Isaac departed thence
At once, peaceably and quietly, though to his loss and disadvantage, without taking himself either to argument or arms, in favour of himself; he departed immediately, as soon as he perceived his abode was disagreeable to the king and his people; which gives us a very agree, able idea of the calm and peaceable disposition of Isaac: and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there;
at some distance from the city of Gerar, as Jarchi observes. Josephus F7 says it was not far from it; but how far is not certain; very probably it was not out of the country, though on the borders of it. Some render it, "the brook of Gerar" F8, and interpret it, that he pitched his tent, and dwelt by it; and the word used does signify a brook as well as a valley; and there was a brook of Gerar, which Sozomen F9 makes mention of.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Antiqu. l. 1. c. 18. sect. 2.
F8 (rrg lxnb) "ad torrentem Gerarae", V. L.
F9 Eccl. Hist. l. 6. c. 32.

Genesis 26:17 In-Context

15 So the Philistines filled up all of Isaac’s wells with dirt. These were the wells that had been dug by the servants of his father, Abraham.
16 Finally, Abimelech ordered Isaac to leave the country. “Go somewhere else,” he said, “for you have become too powerful for us.”
17 So Isaac moved away to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled down.
18 He reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. Isaac also restored the names Abraham had given them.
19 Isaac’s servants also dug in the Gerar Valley and discovered a well of fresh water.
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